Books have always been a special part of my life. Browsing the bookshelves, flipping through the pages (paper or digital), absorbing the knowledge, making an acquisition and then reading my discoveries have given me countless hours of enjoyment. The impetus for this compilation came out of my own quest to write a book. Having found it very difficult to stay inspired and motivated I concluded there must be thousands of others who need some help to get the proverbial juices flowing.

This book is perfect for the seasoned or novice author, bookstore owner, librarian, publisher, editor or active reader. In presenting this compilation of thought-provoking insights related to books, it is my hope that you will harvest the messages and wisdom of those speaking from the page to, in some way, better your work and life. It is a great companion for those who participate in the creation and delivery of books, who want a recent or ancient perspective that will inspire you to clarify your purpose and achieve your potential.

The New Book

Over three billion books were purchased domestically in 2008 evidence that we are not alone and that people still love books. In fact, in 2008 over 500,000 new book titles were introduced in the United States. While the number of books absorbed by readers is growing, the subject matter is expanding into previously unrepresented niche categories. This is being driven by the efficiency of print-on-demand (POD) solutions that now allow authors and publishers to print one (1) book at a time, negating the need to sell a minimum number of books to cover the costs associated with the printing, warehousing and shipping of thousands of books that may never be sold. E-books, although only a small percentage of the current book market provide even greater efficiencies, where the cost to produce and distribute digital content is minimal. Electronic reading devices, once very expensive and unwieldy to hold have finally emerged to accommodate audio and e-book formats at a reasonable price. Online distribution offers a multitude of virtual bookstores from which to feed your interests. A new mixed media offering including print, e-books, and audio represent the new book with video and other innovations not too far behind.

Author Originated Works

For authors the publishing landscape is changing dramatically, and for the better. If you are thinking of offering your own masterpiece to the masses you can submit a finished manuscript and, within days or weeks, have it available on any number of online bookstores such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble for the global public to browse and buy. The old paradigm whereby submitting a manuscript resulted in rejection letters for 99% of authors is changing. Authors now have publishing alternatives that can meet many of their needs if a “traditional publisher” decides not to purchase their work. The new online paradigm which includes marketplaces like Amazon and a myriad of methods to promote your book by virtually writing your way to success has changed publishing forever. In the end, the more relevant you can be to your audience the more successful you will be.

Being Relevant Matters

For readers the sheer number and variety of books is increasing rapidly. A book that may interest the smallest population of readers can now be efficiently created, offered and purchased online. A new global wave of knowledge is coming. In the future the reader and author will have more control, as tools for book creation, distribution and content filtering make it easier to deliver and find relevant subject matter wherever you may be.

Did you ever think you could begin reading a great novel in the evening in front of the fireplace, in the morning listen to it on the ride to work, and then, while at the beach on the weekend pull out your digital reader to finish the job?

What an amazing time for people who love books!

On Books

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends.~ Dawn Adams

Books are men of higher stature; the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.~ E.S. Barrett

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.~ Margaret Fuller

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. ~ Groucho Marx

The world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it's also full of fourth-rate readers.~ Stan Barstow

A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.~ Henry Ward Beecher

Books are not men and yet they stay alive.~ Stephen Vincent Benet

All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality ~ the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.~ Arthur Christopher Benson

I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.~ Aneurin Bevan

A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.~ Malcolm Bradbury

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.~ Ray BradburyIt is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.~ Lord Henry P. Brougham

Books, books, books had found the secret of a garret-room piled high with cases in my father's name; Piled high, packed large, where, creeping in and out among the giant fossils of my past, like some small nimble mouse between the ribs of a mastodon, I nibbled here and there at this or that box, pulling through the gap, in heats of terror, haste, victorious joy, the first book first. And how I felt it beat under my pillow, in the morning's dark. An hour before the sun would let me read! My books!~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

A novel is never anything, but a philosophy put into images.~ Albert Camus

After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books.~ Thomas Carlyle

Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind.~ Robert Chambers

A good title is the title of a successful book.~ Raymond Chandler

The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring~ Warren Chappell